Pitcher Matt Harvey struck out nine over 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits, to lead the Mets to a National League Championship Series Game 1 win over the Cubs Saturday.
Harvey is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Saturday’s two league championship series games. Royals middle reliever Danny Duffy is Player of the Game in the American League Championship Series Game 2 win over the Blue Jays.
National League Championship Series Game 1: Mets 4, Cubs 2
Harvey had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.2, highest among all Mets players, as the Mets took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven game series.
Center fielder Juan Lagares had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Mets batters of +1.0 (2-3 2R).
Harvey, during the regular season had 15.4 Box-Toppers points, ranked 16th among all players, eighth among NL pitchers.
The series resumes Sunday with Game 2 in New York (more details below).
American League Championship Series Game 2: Royals 6, Blue Jays 3
Danny Duffy pitched a scoreless sixth inning, picking up the win, and earning Player of the Game.
The Royals now lead the best-of-seven game series, 2-0.
Duffy (1IP 0H 0R 1K W) had a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0, highest among all Royals players. Third baseman Mike Moustakas (2-4 R 2BI) had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Royals batters, +1.0.
Duffy, during the regular season, had 4.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 228th among all players and 72nd among AL pitchers. He earned 3.0 of his points as a starting pitcher during the season.
The series resumes Monday with Game 3 in Toronto.
See Box-Toppers ALCS series preview with player-by-player match ups.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 10/17 | Score | Team | Players | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| POG | 6.2 | Mets | Matt Harvey (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | |
| POG | 2.0 | Royals | Danny Duffy (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Coming Sunday:
National League League Championship Series Game 2, Mets lead Cubs, 1-0
The pitching match-up Sunday:
Cubs—Jake Arrieta, 29.1 Box-Toppers points, first among all players, first among NL pitchers.
Mets—Noah Syndergaard, 10.4 Box-Toppers points, 41st among all players, 16th among NL pitchers.
See Box-Toppers NLCS series preview with player-by-player match ups.